Angela the Lifeguard

Angela has really come into her own as a retriever. She leaps into the pool to fetch her float toy, while Arthur watches with great interest from the sidelines. On Saturday morning we were playing Angela's favorite game, and Arthur fell into the pool by accident. He's not a strong swimmer and flailed around a bit. Before we could get to him, Angela was on the job, grabbing his collar in her mouth and dragging him to safety. Was there ever any doubt about the size of her heart?

Angela's Summer at the Pool

Here are some photos from Angela's summer by the pool. She's been in the water a couple of times in the past but today she was happy to get in on her own. Maybe because it's close to 100F! (Don't worry, she doesn't have access to the pool if we're not around.) She doggie paddles, of course, but today she was content to just float in the water as we guided her around. So funny! Arthur got in on the action a little too. I love the happy face in front of the greenery--her tail is wagging for certain. Right now both dogs are sleeping, exhausted from the fun afternoon in the pool.

Angela Retrieves a Baby Possum

The dogs were out for their evening bathroom break one night while Audrey was out of town. I was getting ready for bed when they both started to bark franticly. This was not the normal routine emergency barking. I grabbed a bathrobe and headed outside. Equipped with a flash light containing half dead batteries I could see the dogs crouched down barking at this small fuzzy thing. This is the point where time seemed to really slow down. There was a small baby possum playing dead. Angela picked up the possum in her mouth like a squeaky toy, shook it violently a few times, then started to parade around the back yard. She would not respond to any verbal commands. By this point I am half running half streaking around the back yard. Thank goodness there is no You Tube coverage of this event. Of course Arthur my loyal herding dog thinks this is a game. He is running circles around me while I continue to chase Angela. Suddenly she runs towards the stairs and the back entrance of the house. I am starting to get closer to her. Just as she started up the stairs, I was able to dive and just barely get a grip on her tail before she entered the house. As I held onto her tail for dear life, she dropped the possum. I was able to get the dogs inside and then I scooted the possum off the stairs. This two minute episode felt like hours. I went to bed with two stubbed toes and a couple of bruises. Arthur and Angela seemed to enjoy the excitement. The dogs remained agitated that night. The possum was nowhere to be found the next morning

Happy Dog Faces

Angela's health continues to improve. Her demodex is significantly reduced. Her disposition continues to improve. We are occasionaly treated to a dog smile.

Road to Recovery

Happy to report that the meds seem to have worked and Angela's skin shows marked improvement. She seems a lot happier these days, too. Even the fireworks were "no big deal". Perhaps she's finally figured out that she's on the gravy train. Right now the two dogs are wrestling, with Arthur on his back, nibbling on Angela's neck. Now she's down! If I can figure out how to post a video I'll do it.

Vet Visit

We had Angela to the vet this week and found that she has a recurrence of demodex. It's causing her skin to crack & bleed in places. She's on some meds (topical, antibiotic and ivermectin) now and seems a bit happier as they start working. Arthur's trying to help out by licking her wounds, not a great idea of course. Otherwise she's as active and playful as ever.

Sorry for the delay!

Angela's learning to be a frisbee dog! Now she and Arthur take turns catching, and there's generally some disagreement about who gets to carry it back. Angela says, "hey, I'm a retriever after all!" They run until their tongues hang to the ground and we have to insist that they quit. Great way to burn off some energy...

Angela also had her first experience at sleepaway camp (Camp Canine) while we were out of town for the weekend and unfortunately couldn't bring the dogs with us. Arthur showed her the ropes and looked out for her.